Cyber city accident: Two policemen suspended for negligence in investigation

Two policemen, including the station house officer (SHO) of DLF Phase 2 police station, were suspended on Monday for negligence in the investigation of an accident

Two policemen, including the station house officer (SHO) of DLF Phase 2 police station, were suspended on Monday for negligence in the investigation of an accident in which a 49-year-old chief financial officer (CFO) of a private company was killed by car driven allegedly by a minor in DLF Cyber City on August 23, said the police.

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KK Rao, commissioner of police, said that apart from shoddy investigation, there were several other reasons too for the suspension, due to which the action was taken. “There are clear instructions to all the officials to carry out a fair investigation and ensure justice to the victim’s family. The family had approached the SHO several times but he had not given them any satisfactory reply nor did he share any information regarding the investigation. There was no transparency shown in the case and the victim’s family had no clue what the police were doing in the case,” he said.

Aman Beniwal, SHO, and sub-inspector Hari Om were handling the case and the family members had complained that they were not conducting a fair investigation. Further, required sections had not been added in the first information report (FIR).

Mihika Wahi Gupta, wife of the deceased, Alok Gupta, said that she had met the commissioner on Monday and told him how she was running from pillar to post to get justice in the case. She said due to the weak sections and lack of proper investigation, the culprits got bail on the spot. “The car owner, who is equally responsible, should have been booked under section 308 of Indian Penal Code(IPC) as he had given his car to minors. Section 304(2) was not added for the co-passenger. The police also did not take digital footprints of the juvenile behind the wheel, school character certificate, call logs and previous track records,” she said.

Gupta said the police were yet to conduct the DNA test of the blood found inside the car on the driving seat. “The police should have investigated who served liquor to the minors and which was the other car that was racing with the car involved in the accident. The car owner’s statement is yet to be recorded before the judicial magistrate, confirming that he was not driving the car,” she said.

The accident took place on August 23 around 6am, when the victim, Alok Gupta, was on his way to Noida on his Harley Davidson motorcycle. A Ford Figo, in which two juveniles were allegedly travelling, had rammed into the divider and hit his motorcycle across the carriageway. Gupta had succumbed to injuries and, at the time, the police had registered an FIR against the juvenile driver and owner of car, who is a friend of the driver’s father, under sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304 A (death by negligence) of IPC.

The family of the deceased had been demanding that the police invoke more stringent sections against the accused persons. They had also demanded that the police make the parents of the juvenile driver, and the juvenile co-passenger of the car, a party in the case.

On October 5, the police had booked the accused juvenile driver under Section 304 part-2 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The section, which is non-bailable, was added to the FIR after the police sought legal opinion in the case. Later, the police added sections 184 (driving dangerously) and 185 (driving by a drunken person or by a person under the influence of drugs) of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act against the juvenile driver and section 199 A of the MV Act against the car owner. Both were held and released on bail, said the police.

The accident and the subsequent handling of the case by the police evoked widespread protests by the family and friends of the victim. On September 26, at least 400 people including family members, friends, cyclists, carrying placards and banners, had taken out a solidarity march from DT Mega Mall to the crime spot near DLF Phase 2 Rapid Metro station, demanding justice and action against the alleged perpetrators. Similar protests were held in Gurugram, Delhi, Noida, Nagpur, Lucknow, Indore and Jaipur.